Black Milk

My name is Andy Young, I’m part of the leadership team behind Black Milk, one of Manchester’s most rapidly expanding food businesses.

Starting out in Affleck’s in 2015, we now have cafes on Oldham St in Manchester, The Marketplace in Bolton and London’s Soho.

Black Milk is a blended drinks bar and dessert cafe, setting itself apart by offering delicious and instagrammable desserts and drinks. You can find out more about Black Milk by visiting our website or following us on Instagram

I first came across the Business and IP Centre after finally having some time to myself after a very hectic first year of trading in Afflecks. Transitioning some of the workload to our first members of staff freed up time for me to focus on managing and growing our fledgling business. We were in the fortunate position that our cafes were busy nearly all the time. When I needed a quiet place to work from, I started out with coffee shops but found myself spending a small fortune on coffees, so thinking back to my Uni days, on a whim I went to Central Library and discovered the Business and IP Centre on the second floor. I now find myself working from there more and more often when I need a few quiet hours of concentration.

There’s also large a range of books about business, I am a big fan of business books and try to read or listen to as many as possible to find sources of inspiration and ideas. I find the most valuable ones to be the stories of successful entrepreneurs and strategy books. Some of my favourites are The One Minute Manager, The Lean Startup, The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and The Virgin Way.

The Centre filled the gap left after graduating from University in Manchester. It provides free access to trade publications; business information services like Mintel and the full Adobe suite on the Macs in the Centre are great for preparing pitches and presentations. The Business Opportunity Profile Factsheets on the COBRA database help you spot the resources available within an industry and I’ve attended some great events hosted there.

The Business and IP Centre is a great resource and has been fundamental to Black Milk’s growth.